(Photo: Joshua Eaton/ WCSN)
TEMPE – On Feb. 25, 2025, Arizona State men’s basketball lost to TCU 74-70 and dropped to 12-13 with six games still left in the regular season. After the game, ASU players weren’t eager to speak with head coach Bobby Hurley.
“My players didn’t even want me to talk to them,” Hurley said after the game. “We’re finding new ways each game to not be able to get a win.”
That was 360 days ago. On Tuesday night, the Sun Devils entered their matchup against Oklahoma State with a 12-12 record. With a loss, ASU would find itself in the same position it was in last year – 12-13 with six games left to play. And for a 23‑minute stretch that bled into the second half, it looked like ASU was, in all-too familiar fashion, finding a new way to lose.
With about eight minutes remaining in the first half, the Sun Devils jumped out to a 29-16 lead as Andria Grbović buried back‑to‑back threes and added a free throw to one of them. ASU was playing its best basketball of the season and appeared poised to pull away. But by the time the clock showed 4:37 in the second half, the Sun Devils’ lead had shrunk to a single point.
ASU led 69–68 after getting outscored 52–40 from the 8:08 mark of the first half to the 4:37 mark of the second. But from that moment, the Sun Devils scored 16 points, and Meeusen supplied eight, which is how many the Cowboys scored over the closing minutes. ASU (13–12, 4–8 Big 12) found a new way to win, for a change, doing so against Oklahoma State (16–8, 4–7 Big 12).
“I’m never really that concerned, if we get our feet under us in a game, that our guys aren’t going to be resilient and fight back,” Hurley said. “I expected (the Cowboys) to make a run even when we were up 13 in the first half.”
Uncannily, the Sun Devils and Oklahoma State shared a lucky number heading into Tuesday night: 81. It’s more true for the Cowboys, whose 16 wins had all come when they scored at least 81 points. Every time they’ve failed to reach 81, they’ve failed to win.
ASU, meanwhile, is now 10–2 when scoring at least 81 after hitting that mark Tuesday and keeping Oklahoma State from doing so. The Sun Devils kept their offense balanced, getting six players into double figures. ASU’s 85 points was its sixth‑highest single‑game total this season.
“I thought overall the balance was really good,” Hurley said. “We have six guys in double figures and I don’t really care how it happens. I just want for it to happen.”
One of those double‑digit scorers, Santiago Trouet, recorded his fourth double‑double of the season with 16 points, second most on the team, and a team‑leading 10 rebounds. Trouet’s 12 second‑half points led the Sun Devils, with him and Meeusen standing as ASU’s only players to score at least 10 after the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Trouet picked up what was recorded as his fourth personal foul and appeared visibly frustrated as he walked to the bench. He was pulled at that point to avoid fouling out, and the frustration didn’t fade once he sat down. After a brief moment with his face in his palms, he forcefully knocked over the chair beside him.
It wasn’t until three minutes later that a staff member told him he actually had three fouls. Trouet was aware of that all along, and the confusion is what fueled his frustration.
“They told me I had four fouls, I knew I had three, so they gave me an extra foul that wasn’t my foul. So I had my little moment with the chair,” Trouet said. “I’ll have to talk to the chair tomorrow and say sorry.”
Trouet re‑entered the game with the score tied 47–47, and he scored eight points after checking back in, which made up nearly all of the margin as the Sun Devils outscored the Cowboys 38–29 the rest of the way. His surge steadied a team that had spent more than a half drifting toward a familiar outcome.
A year ago, that drift usually ended the same way. This time, it didn’t. ASU still has plenty to sort out, but on a night that carried the risk of falling into the same despair as last season, the Sun Devils finished a game they might not have finished a year ago. For a team with a history of finding new ways to lose, even a small step forward could be something worth holding onto.
“We still have six games left,” Hurley said. “We’ve got to see how many (wins) we can get to close it out.”
